Stock futures trade lower ahead of latest jobless claims
The latest jobless figures will be released before the opening bell
U.S. equity futures are trading lower, the day after Wall Street finished mixed with the S&P 500 snapping a three-day winning streak.
Dow futures are pointing to a decline of 0.2 percent.
One thing that could set the pace for the day will be the weekly jobless claims report.
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The Labor Department is expected to say requests for unemployment benefits fell for the 11th week in a row to 1.3 million, down from 1.542 million the prior week. Since the coronavirus lockdowns were initiated back in mid-March, 44.21 million people have filed jobless claims. An additional 1.3 million would bring that total to 45.51 million, or 28.8 percent of the U.S. workforce .
US WEEKLY JOBLESS CLAIMS REMAIN HIGH, SECOND WAVE OF LAYOFFS BLAMED
The Bank of England will deliver an interest rate decision and is expected to add more quantitative easing.
In Europe, London's FTSE was off 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX slipped 0.4 percent and France's CAC was off 0.6 percent.
In Asian markets on Thursday, Japan's Nikkei shed 0.5 percent, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.1 percent and China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.1 percent.
In the Wednesday U.S. session, the S&P 500 dipped 0.4 percent to break a three-day winning streak, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6 percent, while the Nasdaq composite edged 0.1 percent higher.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 44782 | -128.65 | -0.29% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 6047.15 | +14.77 | +0.24% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 19403.947849 | +185.78 | +0.97% |
Markets have been trending upward this week amid hopes that the worst of the recession may have already passed, and a worldwide rally on Tuesday carried the S&P 500 back to within 8 percent of its record. But rising levels of coronavirus infections in hotspots around the world are also raising concerns that all the improvements could get upended.
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A barrel of U.S. crude oil for delivery in July added 34 cents to $38.31 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gave up 42 cents to settle at $37.96 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international standard, added 49 cents to $41.20 per barrel.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.